Store Owner's Words Foreshadow Shooting Death

But in recent weeks he started to fear his luck was running out, particularly because of the rough neighborhood where he worked.

On Sunday night, Homsi, 50, gathered his large family together for dinner and talked about death.

It was almost as if Homsi, who had been shot twice before, had a premonition of his impending murder, said niece Tina Barakat.

"He said, `I'm running out of lives,'" Barakat said of her uncle, who had survived two shootings. " `I feel like this time, I'm not going to make it.'''

Less than a day after his family gathering, Homsi, of Wilton Manors, was shot dead in a robbery attempt at the Circle 7 store he owned at 1563 W. Sunrise Blvd.

Homsi was shot in the chest by a 17-year-old who lived in the neighborhood and occasionally shopped at Homsi's store, Detective Bob Williams said.

Three teen-age boys were arrested and held on first-degree murder charges in Homsi's death. The alleged gunman is Anthony "Amp" Pullins, 17. Police said his accomplices were Michael Robinson, 18, and a 16-year-old whose name is not being released by the Sun-Sentinel because he is a juvenile.

A grand jury will decide whether the juvenile and Pullins should be charged as adults. Robinson and the 16-year-old have extensive criminal records. All three have confessed, police said.

Pullins was under house arrest for a previous crime and was wearing an electronic monitoring device on his ankle that was designed to alert authorities as soon as he left his driveway, said Chuck Drago, acting captain of investigative services.

Police were uncertain why Pullins was under house arrest, but said authorities knew he had escaped before the shooting occurred because of the bracelet.

"Anytime you try to use [programs like house arrest) instead of prison, there's always a possibility of escape," Drago said. "You can't do away with probation just because somebody violates it."

All three youths lived in the Lauderdale Manors neighborhood just north of the Circle 7 store.

After several shootings and robberies at the store and a feeling that he was being stalked, Homsi "was petrified the last couple of weeks" and planned to sell the store, Barakat said.

Homsi, who will be buried today, died the one way he most feared. Knowing of the dangers at his store, where police responded to more than 100 calls last year, Homsi "said `I just don't want to die with a bullet,'" Barakat said. "It was like he knew it. He felt it."

Detectives got a break in the case when Officer Carl Robertson saw the 16-year-old suspect running from the store after the shooting, and stopped to question him. The other two teens had fled in a car driven by Robinson.

Although the 16-year-old insisted he was only a witness to the shooting, police said he eventually confessed after detectives confronted him with a videotape that showed him inside a nearby convenience store shortly before the 10:30 a.m. Circle 7 shooting.

"We had 'em on camera. They were casing the building," said Levi Wallace, a clerk at the Fiesta Food Mart, a convenience store two blocks east of Circle 7.

The youths later told police they decided not to rob the Fiesta because there were too many people in the store, Detective Williams said.

When the youths left the Fiesta a customer in the parking lot told the store clerk one of the boys had a gun.

Police said Pullins and the 16-year-old walked in the back door of Homsi's store. When Pullins pointed a gun at Homsi and ordered him to give up his cash, Homsi whipped out a automatic handgun he kept at the store and began firing.

Homsi missed. Pullins fired back with the .38-caliber handgun the 16-year-old had stolen, striking Homsi once.

The youths fled without getting a dime.

Homsi had just bought a house in Pompano Beach and had not yet moved in when he was killed. His two daughters were both due to give birth within days. And after selling his store, Homsi wanted to travel, talking often about a trip to Australia, Barakat said.

Homsi had already survived being shot in his native Beirut, Lebanon, while in the army there, and was shot in the hand during a robbery attempt at his store in January 1992.

In his final family dinner, Homsi said he wanted to be buried here, in the country he adopted 10 years ago, rather than in Lebanon, where two of his brothers were shot dead while in the army, Barakat said.